a year of laughter, lessons, and life experiences through the simple ABCs

Tag Archives: Initech

Well ladies and gentlemen, guess what time it is?!?!?! It’s end of month at Initech!!

My word, Han Solo, I forgot how amazing you were in these movies. TV Timeout while we admire Harrison Ford and the complete B.A.ness of him through all three movies. Why don’t I know anyone like this in my life?? SOMEONE PLEASE BE MY FRIEND IF YOU ACT LIKE HIM!!

Anyway, back to the Death Star, er, Initech, as you all know it’s my least favorite time of the month. That wonderful week of absolute hell and torture that comes at my high stress job. Mandatory overtime, understaffed expectations we cannot obtain, and a frustrating bank that I want to burn to the ground. Ok, maybe that’s a bit harsh, but I’m sure you’ve all had that moment when you have wanted to just scream your head off while sitting in your cubicle. You must understand my pain.

Irony of ironies, because I’ve been working so many hours this week I haven’t had time for my running regimen I’ve set myself up on. Still don’t know why I’m running, but that’s another post for another day. The point is that I waited all day like a kid on Christmas Eve for that 6 o’clock hour to hit so I could leave, head home, and head out for a run. It was beautiful out today, mid 80s, sunny, slight breeze. A little humid, but I can deal with that. Until 6:00pm on the dot, though, when a huge thunderstorm rolled in and unleashed over Pittsburgh and the surrounding suburbs. Well…scratch that, then. Guess I’m going home and being lazy like I have all week.

Readers, friends, what do you do for exercise when it’s raining/snowing/tornadoing/earthquaking out and the free gym you call the park is not available? Pilates puts my to sleep, so don’t suggest that. What are some other good activities I can do that won’t take 30 years and will get my heart rate up??

It’s Memorial Day weekend this weekend, one of the few holidays Initech actually accepts exists. Hello, we didn’t even get Easter off, those commie bastards!! So I am gunning for Friday, and this wonderful 3 day weekend that is coming up. Three days without crabby coworkers?? I’ll take it!!

Baking tonight, and then to bed early, it will be another long day tomorrow at work. Just have to keep reminding myself that I’m blessed to have a job. Blessed to have a job. Remember that!!

I’m sorry, when did spring decide to take a hiatus from western Pennsylvania? We have a freeze warning in effect tonight, and the high tomorrow is only supposed to hit 53?? It’s May, weather gods, I would like some nice springtime weather! And don’t tell me “Wednesday is supposed to hit 83!” That’s too hot for May!! I want nice 60 and 70 degree weather for a few weeks, is this too hard to ask for??

**end rant**

Another wonderful weekend is just about in the books, and boy am I tired! I love weekends where you sit back on a Sunday night and wonder whether you need a weekend to recover from your weekend. Sitting on my bum watching movies all weekend is not my idea of a good time. Riding roller coasters in the pouring rain, well…it’s not my idea of fun either, but it’s certainly an adventure!! 🙂

So this weekend I traveled home to see my family, and we spent Saturday at HersheyPark. It sounds like a great plan for a day off, until you wake up on Saturday to be met with pouring rain. Ah, May showers bring…more pollen? I’m not sure what May showers bring, but they certainly don’t help you cram as many coasters into one day as possible. Being Days, though, we crammed into the car anyway and decided we would make the best of the day at Hershey, regardless of the weather.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought it was worth making the trip to the park on Saturday. There were a ton of people there, even though it had been raining steadily since Friday evening. No worries, though, Hershey was still able to keep a few rides open despite the rain, including a few roller coasters. Ever ride the Great Bear in a downpour? No…?? You don’t know what you’re missing! When the lift hill chain clicks onto your car and gallons of water/brake lubricant come pouring down on your head from the top of the car, that’s when you know you’re really living!!! 😀 Honestly, it really is quite a rush!

With all the rain, though, we killed some time in the video arcade playing pointless games that no one will remember three weeks from now. Their video arcade is decent, they have everything from Dig Dug to Fruit Ninja, and it’s all rain-free! I managed to get third highest score on Galaga, one of my favorite old-school video games around. I even took a picture to show all of you haters! 😉 Read ’em and weep, boys, a long way from second, but bronze medal at HersheyPark’s video arcade goes to me!! 😀 If only they had an old NES Duck Hunt game for me to destroy as well!!

The rain was not letting up for the longest time, though, so we kept riding through the rain and the wind, looking incredibly awesome the entire time. There’s something to be said for my sister Allison who managed to keep all of her makeup in one piece even while dealing with all of the weather elements. If only I had her mad skills. This picture is the two of us as we pulled into the station of the Lightening Racers after completing the ride. We’re soaking wet and freezing cold, having just hurtled 55MPH through the storm, but you know what, it was certainly a memory maker! “Ride a wooden roller coaster in a torrential down pour” can now be checked off of my bucket list!

The storm FINALLY passed though, giving us a chance to dry out, get some food in our system, and wait for the big rides to finally test run and open up for the afternoon. Even though I’ve been to HersheyPark dozens of times, there are definitely rides that I love to ride every time I’m there, and I wasn’t missing them just because a storm interrupted most of our morning. We managed to squeeze in rides on the Great Bear, the Wild Cat and Wild Mouse, the Lightening Racers, Reese’s Xtreme Cup Challenge, Sky Rush, SooperDooperLooper, Fahrenheit, and Storm Runner. That’s a lot of coasters! I have to say, no matter how many coasters they add, Hershey’s hidden gem of a coaster will always be the Great Bear. I’ve never been on a coaster that is as much fun as that one.

Eventually we headed over to Chocolate World, Hershey’s shameless plug to entice you to buy lots of candy. And I have to admit, they have a good thing going there, it’s so hard to resist all the candy! Are you telling me you want me to actually go into this room that’s filled from top to bottom with Reese’s products and not walk away with something in my hands? Ha, fat chance!! It’s just too good to be true.

And yes, for those of you who were worried, I did manage to squeeze in an awesome Hershey Ride tour, despite the rain and heavy crowds. Can’t pass that up, even with the cheesy music and talking animatronic cows. Free candy is free candy!! 🙂

The only thing that could have made my Saturday day better was a Penguins win…oh wait, that definitely happened late Saturday night!! Best day ever!!

All that walking/running/drying out/riding really wore me out, though. A 4 hour car ride was NOT what I wanted to do today, but I am definitely glad to be back home. Now I’m just trying to gear up for another work week at Initech, and a few less coasters in my day-to-day activities.

I hope you guys have a fantastic week, and that the weather gets warmer ASAP! I’ll be back next week with a new adventure as I try to play catch up a little bit!!

Lis

P.S. Forgot to mention this earlier, but my sister and I found this gem in HersheyPark as well. Why does this exist??

Most of you regular readers to my blog know that I occasionally whine about Initech, my awful office job I currently have. And when I say occasionally, what I actually mean is every moment of every day! It’s a stressful job, with crappy hours and crappy pay, and most of the time I’d rather be in the middle of a root canal than be faced with another minute at my desk. That’s why I lovingly refer to it as Initech, after the cult classic Office Space.

If you think back to August, when I launched this blog (back before I became the international sensation that I am in the blogosphere), I told you the main reason this blog existed was because my soul-sucking job had me questioning where my life was headed at age 25. I figured I’d take a year, have some fun, and see if I couldn’t rediscover who I was.

6 months into this project and I’m gearing up for an international trip this weekend, for the soul purpose of blogging about it on Sunday! 🙂 I’d say we’re deep in the thickets of soul-searching here. And I love it!

What I love even more, though, is the simple fact that today, of all days, I had a good day at work. Let me repeat that for those of you who are in a state of shock: I had a good day at work today! Crazy, right?!

Now, don’t get me wrong, the job was still awful. People yelling, manager’s micromanaging, co-workers who can’t figure out how to do their jobs, state government systems that I want to burn to the ground. (I’m talking to you, Hawaii!!) But today, of all days, was a good day simply because my coworkers (and now friends) made it a good day. Through laughter, and food, and some well-needed breaks, we made it through another day together. And after work I realized, all the job crap aside, it was a pretty good day.

I’m not sure if this job will ever last for me. It’s not my thing, this cubicle atmosphere. But Initech is a part of my life now, and I have to take what I can from the job. What I’ve taken is a great appreciation for good friends, those in my office and those in the Minnesota office, who keep me laughing all day. Our motto at work is simply “If you don’t laugh, you cry,” and we take this to heart every day. 🙂

Friends and a blog, that is what Initech has given me. I’m kind of OK with that. For today anyway.

What a great weekend it’s been after a frightfully ghastly week at Initech! My mom came out to Pittsburgh to visit for the weekend, and we had a ton of fun shopping, seeing all the great sites downtown, eating way too much food, and watching awful Food Network shows. It was a much needed respite after the week from hell I had at Initech. Nothing quite like logging 65+ hours in one work week to make you realize how much you honestly hate your job. For 5 days the only things I saw were my office, my bed, and the shower. That’s it!! Now I’ve had a fabulous weekend and an extra Monday off to sit in front of my TV and watch Game of Thrones. Or maybe Downton Abbey, I haven’t decided yet! 😛

So it’s been awhile, but I cannot WAIT to tell you about the adventures I have planned for next weekend. This is the big kahuna, the one we’ve all been waiting for, the creme de la creme, we’re all in. Next weekend, I’m going international!

I love international travel, but can rarely afford it. I’ve been to Canada with my family in an always-interesting Day Family Vacation. In college, I studied abroad in Italy and got to see all sorts of wonderful things. And I went to the Bahamas last year with my favorite (and only) sister. Sadly, though, that’s all my passport has been used for.

Next weekend, though, I’m heading abroad again, and joining the ranks of international travelers. I’m heading up north, way north, to the wonderful lands of Canada, and more specifically Toronto!

Don’t laugh, if you remember from my very first post, this entire blog is operating on a shoestring budget. The total weekend trip will probably be priced at less than $200 (US). For an international trip with my college roommate, I consider that a steal of a deal!! I’m not sure I could spend a weekend in Philly for $200. I’m not sure I’d want to either. 🙂

So here’s what we’ll be doing: on Friday morning, after a late night sleepover filled with Friends episodes, ice cream, and probably a glass of wine on my part, my college roommate and I will embark on the 3 1/2 hour drive up to the Canadian border. I can’t believe it’s that close to Pittsburgh! We will have my old, dear car Wilson stock piled with snacks, suitcases, and enough 90s boy bands to make anyone jealous (we might rock some old Nsync concert tour tshirts too. This has yet to be determined) Our hotel is actually in Niagara Canada, right over the border, and it is preeeeeeettttttttyyyyy sketchy. As in, we’re bringing sleeping bags just in case sketchy. But what’s an out-of-country adventure without a good old-fashioned sketchy hotel?!?

We’ll see the Falls, because you can’t go to Canada without seeing the falls, win thousands at the casino, spend too much money on good food and drinks, and try out our awesome Canadian pick up lines. as well as maybe visit this site a time or two, for all you How I Met Your Mother fans!!! Old King Clancy ftw!!!

Saturday we’re booking it to Toronto, for some touristy awesomeness. We’ll be visiting the CN Tower, and maybe the hockey HOF. I have heard the Toronto Chinatown is a must-see (Canadian Asians, what a novelty!!), and also have a bucket list of restaurants I need to try while I’m in town. I’m not sure my waistline can support this trip. I might be walking home!!

I’m excited to leave for this trip, mainly because it is just so incredibly random!! 🙂 Aren’t random trips the best? We don’t have a real serious itinerary, so we’ll just see what we wanna see, do what we wanna do, and then head back to the best city in the world!

Let me know if there are any must-see places in Toronto we need to visit. The crazier the better, this trip is already halfway into the loony bin! And make sure you stop back next week to hear all about our International Adventures!!!

Hello my wonderful readers, how are you today? I hope you’re enjoy the snow, and the fact that February is slowly coming to an end. Come on March!!!! 🙂

It’s been a good weekend. A Die Hard marathon, Penguins hockey, and the season finale of Downton Abbey tonight (although I don’t want to watch it because I know what happens and I’m super mad!!) If Initech wasn’t driving me so crazy during the work week, I’d say I would be having a blast!! 😀

So if you’ve been waiting all week to find out what I’ve been up to with my alphabet weekends, I’m happy to tell you I can finally let you in on my closely-guarded secret. Not too closely guarded, mind you, but close enough!

When I decided to start this year-long adventure, there were a lot of weekend activities I chose that were different, outside the normal realm of my average weekend. I chose things I had never done before, things I was afraid to try, things I hated doing, things I knew would be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. If I was going to invest an entire year to blogging, I wanted to make sure at the end of the year I could look back and say, wow, I did a lot of stuff!! So far about 6 months into this, that has definitely been true.

A few things on the list were added simply because I wanted to be goofy, and have fun, and have funny stories someday when people asked, “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done when _______?” And this weekend was no different. I wanted to do something wacky, something crazy, and I decided to do it at the library.

I love surprises. I love giving surprises, and I love receiving surprises. To me, surprising someone is the ultimate way of showing them you care, you love them, you were simply thinking about them. And in a way, I think it’s a super humbling experience. I honestly can’t get enough of them.

What I love more than surprises, though, are random acts of kindness. I love when you find a stranger has done something wonderful for you simply because. At Christmas I paid for the car behind me in the drive-thru. A few weeks ago someone left an extra quarter at the soda machine that I desperately needed. Those experiences are the most humbling of all, because it shows that you want to do something nice, but expect no recognition in return. They help me believe that even in a world that is full of wars, crimes, violence, and drug problems, there is still a small part of human nature that wants to do good in this world.

So I decided to do a few random acts of kindness this weekend, but venture a little more to the crazy side of it. I couldn’t go pay for everyone’s meal at Eat N’Park, nor could I really afford to go and play the lottery for everyone (I wish). But in my opinion, sometimes the biggest acts of kindness come from a small inspiration, and that’s what I tried to do this weekend.

To set up my sting (as I called it), I headed out to the Hampton library. It’s a wonderful library, nice and big, and deserted (damn you, Kindle!) the perfect place to get lost and set up shop. I headed in, found a back corner where I couldn’t be disturbed, and dug the supplies out of my over-sized purse.

The idea was simple: I was going to write out inspiring thoughts, compliments, and quotes on index cards, and hide them in books all over the library. Completely harmless, absolutely anonymous (unless some crazy goes dusting for finger prints), and best of all, hopefully positive and/or uplifting to the people who eventually find them. On the back of each card I simply put the URL for this blog post, in case they wondered why in the heck some random card was stashed in their book. And then I went to work.

Half of the fun was choosing which books to place the cards in. On one card I simply wrote “You are beautiful”. I found a well-worn copy of a popular diet book on one shelf and hid the card within the pages of it for someone to find. Hopefully it will remind them that no matter what they think about themselves, they are still beautiful. One quote about the power we find within ourselves I hid in a book about 20th century dictators (see the irony there!) Some cards were hidden in best sellers, others in books I’m not sure had been removed from the shelf in over 20 years. Some were left in books I love, like on the right, a card left in the book Unbroken, while I purposefully also stuck a card in Dante’s Inferno, one of my least-favorite books. 🙂 I figured if some poor soul was stuck reading Dante, they might need a little motivation to not gouge their eyeballs out.

In the end, some nosy librarian might have stalked me around the building, documented every book I touched, and then removed all the cards after I left the building, and no one will be able to see everything I hid. But maybe, just maybe, a few will be discovered by random people throughout Allegheny County, people who need a good reason to laugh, or a smile, or a kind word. They might throw it out, they might think it’s creepy, they might even ignore it. But that’s the wonderful thing about random acts of kindness: you never know where they might lead, or who they might help, or how they might change the world. 🙂

Be inspired, and find a random act of kindness to do sometimes this week. Maybe we can start a new trend, blowing up libraries around the world with index cards. If you leave index card compliments in any books, leave me a comment and let me know so we can see if anything comes of it. Maybe some how we’ll be the voice of good in 2013. 🙂

I hope you have a wonderful week, wherever you may be in life. Stay warm, and stay tuned, because we have a super exciting announcement coming up next week!!! 🙂

Happy Sunday everyone!!! How beautiful is it outside today!? The sun is shining, the snow is melting, and right now my apartment smells like rosemary and garlic. Try that topped on potatoes. Take a minute and think about the explosion in your mouth!! They’re almost don’t cooking, and I can’t wait to eat it.

On top of that, I have bread baking in my slow cooker, a Friends marathon is on TBS currently, and some buffalo chicken dip is due to be consumed in about an hour. Oh, and Downton Abby is on tonight, holla!!!! Is anyone else as obsessed with that show as I am?? I seriously cannot get enough of that wonderful show. Here’s my question, though, does anyone else keep track of how many times you want to smack Mary Crawley in a single episode?

Enough about my wonderful day, though, let’s talk about my adventure next weekend. Next week is one of those random adventures I’ve always wanted to try, but never had the guts/time/ability to do so. Not next weekend, though, next weekend, I’m finally making it happen.

Here’s the thing about next week’s surprise: I can’t tell anyone! Maybe next week should be title S is for Secret, because this adventure has to go off without anyone knowing what’s going on. I hope you weren’t too excited to hear about it this week, because there’s no way I can tell you! But I’m super excited about it, and I hope that’s enough of a reason for you to be excited too!

So I’m off to work for a few hours, logging that overtime early to help keep ahead of the storm that is approaching at Initech. Then it’s food, Downton, and some steamed Boston bread. Let’s see how this turns out!!

Have a wonderful week. Try not to think too much about my adventure next week. And check back next week to see exactly what happened.

It’s 2013. Wow. Children being born this year will not graduate high school until 2031. Doesn’t that make you want to curl up in a ball somewhere? When did we get so old??

Initech is dragging me down this week, I’m sad to say. Everyone has the flu at work, I think it’s only a matter of time until I do too. My coworkers think I’m crabby now, just wait until they see me super sick too. 😦

The being said, my.alphabet.adventure is on standby this weekend, while I see how my health shapes up. If it’s possible I’d still love to go, but there’s no way I’m going to risk infecting other people, or delaying my recovery, just for a blog. I love you guys, but not that much!!!

So consider this weekend a “maybe”. If I don’t get out, it will probably be rescheduled for the following weekend, Initech allowing, of course 🙂 Lord knows my job is more important than anything else I could ever hope to do in my life!!